Chapter 3 3

Chapter 3

Alexa stood in front of the mirror with only a towel wrapped around her chest. Her cheeks were wet with her tears as her horrible reflection looked her back from the mirror. Her once smooth and glowy skin was filled with bruised stripes. What had she done to deserve such maltreatment from her own Dad? She asked herself, but the only answer she could come up with was the fact that the man was greedy.

Her heart wrenched painfully, filled with regrets from that night. She shouldn't have done that. She should've at least kept herself and acted like the mannered girl she was. What would Miguel think of her now? That she was a loose girl that takes pleasure in sleeping with men?

Brushing all the thoughts to the back of her mind, she was about to go to the bathroom to freshen up when the door opened and she turned sharply to find Miguel.

Her heart missed a beat, so she quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her naked body.

"Wh... what are you doing?" She stuttered as she tried to cover up her bruises, her heart pumping hard against her chest, but it was too late as Miguel already saw the bruises, leaving him shocked.

Miguel stared back at her wordlessly, not wanting to think that those bruises were inflicted on her by a human.

"Who did this to you?" His voice was filled with anger as he advanced toward her, covering the distance between them.

"It's none of your business. You can't barge into my room like that. It's not nice," She tried to avoid the question as she stepped away from him, but he held her hand and she yelped when his fingers brushed the place where she was burnt earlier.

"What!" Miguel's exclamation came out weakly and his jaw dropped to the ground as he turned her back to face him, revealing more bruises that left his heart wrenching painfully.

"I won't ask you again... Who did this to you?" He asked for the second time, his tone filled with anger, the other side of him that made Alexa frightened.

"Let me go," She yanked his hand off and stepped away from him.

"You need to leave, Miguel. This is not right. I'm your brother's wife... You can't..."

"Tell me, Alexa! Who the fuck did this to you? Is it my brother?" Miguel's impatient and angry voice made Alexa flinch.

"Miguel..."

"Tell me, Alexa... Who did this to you?" He asked for the umpteenth time, and Alexa swallowed nothing and blinked her eyes. Her eyes glistened with tears and fear written in them.

'I'm really going to kill you if you ever mention this to anyone' She didn't want to lose her life even though it wasn't worth living. She was scared of dying.

"It's... It's Xavier..." Her reply came out weakly as the tears she'd been fighting back finally found their way down her cheeks as she held on tightly to the tip of the towel she was wearing. Miguel's eyes darkened, and slowly, he clenched his fingers tightly as he stared back at her wordlessly. He didn't want to believe that his brother would be so heartless to do this to a woman, let alone the woman he married.

"My brother?" Miguel asked to be sure of what she said, and she nodded, his jaw dropped to the ground. He opened his mouth to say something, but his lips quivered and no words came out of him.

"I'm fine, Miguel... I'm really fine, I swear it... I'm not in pain," She shook her head as she quickly held his hand.

"Please... You can't confront your brother... You can't say a word about this to anyone either. I swear I'm fine," She pleaded with him as more tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Is that why...you had sex with me at the clubhouse? You never wanted to marry him, did you?" Miguel's eyes were filled with rage as he looked her in the eyes.

"That does not matter now, Miguel. I'm really fine, honestly..."

"You are not fine... You are in pain, Alexa. Look at your body... You have bruises all over your body. My brother has been abusing you, why are you still in this marriage?" He held her shoulders and asked calmly. Words alone were not enough to explain how pained he was, seeing her like this, and to think he was harsh on her earlier thinking she'd cheated on his brother. If only he knew why she did that, he wouldn't have been so harsh to her.

"I am not complaining, Miguel. I'm fine," She shook her head and forced a smile even though she was in pain deep inside her.

"I will help you... I promise I will get you out of..." His voice trailed off when he heard the thick footsteps from outside and Alexa's heart sank into her stomach.

"He is here... What do we do?" She shrieked fearfully and confusingly, and just then, an idea struck her mind, and without waiting to give it another thought, she dashed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. Just then, she heard the door outside open.

"Miguel? You are here?" She heard Xavier's surprised voice from outside.

"Hmm..." She heard Miguel hummed. Her heart hammered against her chest and fear gripped her at the thought of Miguel saying something about what happened to Xavier. She was sure Xavier would surely kill her this time.

"Are you ok? You look dull," Xavier's voice sounded from outside, and she swallowed nothing. Without thinking twice, she grabbed a robe from the bathroom, wore it and when she was sure that it covered her bruises, she arranged her hair, wiped her tears, and finally pulled the door open.

"Honey, you are home?" She forced a smile at Xavier as she walked over to him, and Miguel scoffed silently.

"Yes, I just got home," Xavier grinned at her as he wrapped his hand around her waist.

"Miguel... You are here? When did you get here?" Alexa smiled at Miguel.

"I was just taking a walk around and I came in here. I'll see you guys around," And with that, Miguel walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Xavier quickly stepped away from Alexa and a deep frown settled on his face.

"Is my bath water ready?" He asked in his usual cold voice that left Alexa flinching.

"No...no, Sir... I didn't know you would be home so..." A hot slap landed across her cheek that sent her crashing against the dressing mirror.

"You didn't know I was going to be home so early? Do you want to die? You were wishing I never come back home, right?" He walked over to her, grabbed her neck, and slammed her against the dressing mirror and it cracked immediately. He pinned her neck to the mirror, pressing it hard and choking the life out of her. Alexa was left gasping for air as she struggled to free herself from this man who was ready to kill her.

"You are lucky my brother is here..." He finally pulled away from her, and she coughed out as she held her neck while trying to catch her breath.

"Prepare my bath water right away, and make sure dinner is ready by the time I'm done bathing," Those were the only words Alexa needed from him before she crawled toward the bathroom as her legs were too weak to carry her.

For how long was she going to continue this toxic marriage? This was the same question she'd been asking herself for the past two weeks but still, it was left unanswered...